Myth Of Homogeneity Research Articles

Are all Asian tourists the same? Chinese versus Japanese dining satisfaction

PurposeWith a focus on tourists' dining experiences, this study aimed to identify food neophobic tendencies and dining attributes that affect dining satisfaction and to compare these factors between two nationality groups – Chinese and Japanese.Design/methodology/approachFrom a paper-based survey, 380 usable responses were collected from inbound Chinese and Japanese tourists at an international airport in Korea. Bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were employed.FindingsChinese tourists' level of dining satisfaction was related to their food neophobic tendencies as well as to the food, environment and service quality. Japanese tourists perceived quality of food and service only as important, and environment quality and food neophobic tendencies were not related to their dining satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this cross-cultural study can be used to improve understanding of international tourists' perceptions and food-related personality traits and have implications for increasing favorable attitudes toward local food at tourist destinations. Destination marketing organizations and local restaurateurs can use the results to develop marketing strategies tailored to each tourist segment.Originality/valueSuccessful marketing strategies for promoting a tourist destination must consider how tourists view the local food as an aspect of the destination attraction. Many studies have considered all Asians as a single homogeneous entity, specifically in comparison with Westerners. This study attempted to debunk the myth of homogeneity by comparing two Asian countries, which may differ in regard to their dining satisfaction.

The Minority Machine: Alterity and Excess in the Films of Sai Yōichi

The Minority Machine:Alterity and Excess in the Films of Sai Yōichi Nathaniel Heneghan (bio) The majority of Zainichi Korean filmmaker Sai Yōichi's (b. 1949) cinematic works depict the struggle of individuals who live at the social or geographic margins of Japanese society, with two of his better-known films—All Under the Moon (Tsuki wa dotchi ni dete iru, 1993) and Blood and Bones (Chi to hone, 2004)—being adaptations of Zainichi writer Yang Sŏkil's (b. 1936) novels that foreground members of the Zainichi community.1 I will use this piece, however, to examine two of Sai's more overlooked films, Mosquito on the Tenth Floor (Jikkai no mosukīto, 1983) and Soo (Su, 2007), neither of which features overt depictions of Zainichi characters, but that I read as visually and thematically resonant with experiences of being Korean in Japan.2 This essay engages in an experimental reading of these two films, analyzing Mosquito on the Tenth Floor as a commentary on Zainichi "disrecognition" and Soo as a covert exploration of the doubleness and excess that marks Zainichi alterity through a play on the cinematic strategies of "difference and repetition" as articulated in the writings of Gilles Deleuze. Deleuze posits difference and repetition as dynamic theoretical strategies that [End Page 365] exceed the traditional order of representation and are only subordinated to this same order through repression.3 In this analysis, I link alterity and excess—two tropes that have come to describe the Zainichi condition of being both marginalized and unwanted (or "excessive") by the standards of Japanese mainstream society—with Deleuze's concepts of difference and repetition. Much as strategies of difference and repetition are erased or repressed for the preservation of the symbolic order, as described by Deleuze, notions of Koreanness have been subordinated for the maintenance of Japanese national identity rooted in the myth of homogeneity (Nihonjinron). I thus argue that Sai's films employ similar transgressive strategies for the interrogation of minority identity formation as that of avant-garde filmmaker Ōshima Nagisa (1932–2013), under whom Sai worked, while also exceeding this discursive approach by locating the potential for a transnational identity in an originary hybridity that transcends political designations. The term "excess" is also deployed here to connote Kristin Thompson's theory of cinematic excess, which is used to characterize elements of a film that reside outside the coherent unifying forces of narrative.4 The two films discussed here exhibit elements of excess in this sense as well, often in the form of gratuitous violence and incoherent or nonfunctional thematics, which have the effect of challenging conventional modes of cinematic representation. In addition, I read both Soo and Mosquito on the Tenth Floor as expressions of Zainichi "disrecognition," which John Lie characterizes as the lack of a "complex of attributes—love, right, and esteem—that endow people with a sense of acceptance and acknowledgment"5 and whose internalization is "implicit [End Page 366] in the phenomenon of passing."6 While passing is traditionally understood as "the fact of being accepted, or representing oneself successfully as, a member of a different group" and most commonly refers to "the means by which nonwhite people represent themselves as white,"7 several recent studies have reevaluated passing for its subversive potential, as a process that contests the binarism of the dominant racial discourse by underscoring the "instability and fluidity" of race and thereby revealing the constructedness of racial identity.8 As I observe in my reading of Sai's films, if recuperated in this way, passing functions as an "'actual' mode of political or ideological critique" that attempts to subvert hegemonic racial discourses.9 However, while for nonwhite Americans passing typically constitutes a conscious decision, Lie argues that passing was the default option for Zainichi Koreans, particularly the second generation and beyond, by virtue of the lack of visual distinctions that would mark them as "other."10 Thus, while the sociology of passing can indeed be regarded as somewhat generic regardless of identity, the Zainichi case even further problematizes binary notions of passing by complicating the "politics of visibility" (much as recent discourses of biracial passing seek to do) and foregrounding cultural...

Vrouwen op muren

Abstract Women on walls. Diversity in (post-)revolutionary Egyptian graffiti The 25 January Revolution in Egypt and its aftermath saw a great rise in the amount of graffiti and street art. It was a medium to challenge official discourse and played a role in forming collective identities and claims. In the wake of Mubarak’s deposition, the immediately apparent heterogeneity within the Egyptian public sphere contrasted sharply with the myth of homogeneity that had been endorsed by the regime. The revolution opened up space for discussion on the political future of Egypt, but also on social issues. These debates are reflected in the graffiti of 2011-13. This article analyses the representation of women in graffiti during this time, exploring the multiplicity of ideas and images therein as a case study of the diversity within the Egyptian public sphere following the revolution and the openings for new narratives and debates that the revolution provided.

Curious Streets

The psychological journey of migration is far longer than the geographical one.1 At the peak of his career in the mid-1980s, Desmond Hogan was being compared to Salman Rushdie and Kazuo Ishiguro2 a...

To Translate the Shaking: Contemporary Japanese Women's Poetry (And Coaxing It into English)

The word I see most often in connection with contemporary Japanese women's poetry is yureteiru, shaking. The poetry is not unstable and certainly not indifferent, just shaking-in flux and reaching for a landing point, however impermanent. This shaking is thrown into relief by the assumed stability of society as a whole. The Japanese economy is coming apart at the seams, but most people rarely speak of it. A startling common concept is isshin-denshin, essentially meaning mind reading-the ability of one Japanese person to see into another' s heart without an exchange of words. Also, I have had a highly educated older gentleman tell me calmly that no foreigners live in Japan, when he knew very well that I'd been living there for two years. There is a myth of homogeneity and definability. Social roles and perceptions are changing, but slowly. Even in the early 1990s, understanding personal responsibility and self-reliance ranked highest on a list of desirable qualities to develop in young boys, while the same qualities ranked low for girls. High-ranking female attributes were sensitivity to other people's needs and gentleness. Just ten years ago, only 34 percent of Japanese people polled said that girls and boys should be raised the same, compared to 62 percent of Americans polled, 67 percent of Philippinos/Philippinas, and 92 percent of Swedish people.

Reconstructing deconstructing 'race': British political discourses about the Irish in Britain

This article examines the 'forced inclusion' of the Irish within a 'myth of homogeneity' which developed in Britain from the 1950s onwards. In particular, it explains the complex reasons for exclusion of the Irish from the immigration controls introduced in the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act. Further, the article challenges the notion that this exclusion of the Irish from the 1962 legislation was primarily due to their 'whiteness'. It explores the significance of Northern Ireland's location in the United Kingdom for British policies in relation to citizens of the Irish Republic. The article ends by arguing that 'forced inclusion' within a national collectivity is no necessary protection against racialization, problematization and discrimination.

Deconstructing Whiteness: Irish Women in Britain

The Irish are largely invisible as an ethnic group in Britain but continue to be racialized as inferior and alien Others. Invisibility has been reinforced by academic treatment Most historians have assumed that a framework of assimilation is appropriate and this outcome is uncritically accepted as desirable. Sociologists on the other hand have excluded the Irish from consideration, providing tacit support for the ‘myth of homogeneity’ of white people in Britain against the supposedly new phenomenon of threatening (Black) ‘immigrants’.Focus on the paradigm of ‘colour’ has limited the range of racist ideologies examined and led to denial of anti-Irish racism. But an analysis of nineteenth-century attitudes shows that the ‘Irish Catholic’ was a significant Other in the construction of the British nationalist myth. Despite contemporary forgetting, hostility towards the Irish continues, over and above immediate reactions to recent IRA campaigns. Verbal abuse and racial harassment are documented in London and elsewhere, but unacknowledged.The masculine imagery of ‘Paddy’ hides the existence of Irish women in Britain, although they have outnumbered men since the 1920s. In America, by contrast, there is a strong stereotype of ‘Bridget’ and her central contribution to Irish upward mobility is recognized. But invisibility does not protect Irish women in Britain from racism. Indeed, they are often more exposed since their productive and reproductive roles connect more firmly to British society. Moreover, women have played a key role in maintaining Catholic adherence, which continues to resonate closely with Irishness and difference.

1984 and beyond: Divergent Directions and Extra Depth*

It is time family therapy looked wider than the therapy session. Problems presenting also need to be viewed within a societal context. The complexity and fluid nature of issues affecting the family today needs to be recognised. To highlight this, 3 divergent areas are discussed; family structure, culture, and the nuclear threat. The myth of homogeneity is exposed and the pluralistic nature of Australian society is discussed. It is argued that family therapists have a responsibility to be aware of, and to comment on, family policy issues if the approach is to continue to develop divergent directions and extra depths.